Sony Is Developing Another Spider-Man Spinoff

When movie theaters are permitted to fully reopen and studios begin to release new blockbusters, we’re going to see a wave of Spider-Man movies from Sony ... without Spider-Man in them. Next March, we’ll get Morbius, starring Jared Leto as a vampire that Spidey has tussled with on numerous occasions. Then in June there’s the majestically named Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the sequel to Tom Hardy’s surprise hit as the popular Marvel anti-hero.

Not content to rest on their, uh, Carnage, Variety reveals that Sony is prepping a third Spidey spinoff, this one the first “female-centric” movie in their Spider-Man cinematic universe. They don’t have concrete info on which character will be the focus but they have one educated guess based on their sources:

While it’s unconfirmed at the time who the character at the center will be, insiders say there is a strong possibility that the film will be based on the Madame Web comic-book character. Sony had no comment.

Sony has signed TV director S.J. Clarkson, who worked on episodes of Marvel Netflix series like Jessica Jones and The Defenders, to helm the project. Sony previously developed a female-centric Spider-Man spinoff called Silver & Black, which would have focused on the Marvel characters of Black Cat and Silver Sable. Gina Prince-Bythewood was signed to direct the film, which was announced in 2017. But that project never came together. Last we heard, Silver & Black was now being developed as a TV series.

So this is probably not that. It could be Madame Web, although that character wouldn’t seem to lend herself to a very dynamic movie — she’s a blind psychic who can predict the future. (Recently, a former Spider-Woman named Julia Carpenter took the name Madame Web in Marvel Comics, so theoretically you could make a movie about her version of the character.) There are tons of other female superheroes in Spider-Man’s orbit who this could theoretically be, from Silk to the original Spider-Woman Jessica Drew, to Spider-Gwen, who popped up in Into the Spider-Verse. Given the fact that much of Hollywood is on pause right now, we might not find out what character will appear in this spinoff for a while.